Palm Trees, Hugs & Road-Trips!

On Friday I flew down to Orlando to spend the day with my lovely Mum! She picked me up from the airport and we went to the shops and generally just enjoyed being together. Eating at The Colombian in Celebration was delicious along with our walk round the lake. Oh and not forgetting drinks at Starbucks. It's just what you do down there. Davey finished up school, packed his truck up and headed over to spend the night at Mum's as well. It was a fun little family reunion!

Mum & I having a squeeze




...or two (got to get as many in as possible!)






Dave's a bit sleepy (6 weeks of summer school under his belt), but a great hugger!





ah-hem, dave's truck. PACKED!




the truck bed also!








the singing, happy, truck driver





he wouldn't let me switch! drove the whole way.






the 7th hour of driving and going a little cross-eyed & crazy.





but we made it.

Weekend with Pammy

Our old friend Pam came to visit us last weekend. She lives in Apollo Beach Florida and is a 5th grade school teacher. She's the best! She's from our ah-hem ...cult church in Pensacola. She has such a sharp wit that when we're together it's one never ending sarcastic joke. Justin is like her younger brother so when they're together all these pop culture references come up and I'm always stumped. Stumped like I just stand there all cylindrical looking.


We went to the Vortex for a late lunch. The Vortex is a bar/restaurant filled with all kinds of random memorabilia. It's in Midtown Atlanta and is where we take people who've never been to the ATL. Some pretty tasty fried zucchini!

Once we'd finished lunch and our pouting photo shoot we headed over to the Burn n' Brew at Annie & Brenton's place. These Burn n' Brews started as men only where the gents gather to cook meat and burn things. Anything can be burnt! I guess it's somewhat therapeutic in a manly way. Girls were allowed to this one so along with the meat came an ICE CREAM bar filled with glorious goodies like gummy bears, reese's pieces, oreos, butterfingers etc... Balance came to the universe once more.



This is Brenton showcasing his new, home brewed beer. Pretty tasty stuff! It's the Double Wanda IPA - made with a whole lotta love.

I love Doors

It's been so long! But now I'm back and want to share with you a photo project I gave myself while in Europe so I could focus on something other than our ugly mugs! I really love doors and the deeper meaning of what they can represent. An open door can mean a new opportunity, new places, new people, new culture etc. A closed door can be somewhat negative, relating more to an end of an era or loss of opportunity. But on the flip side closed can be positive (buh-bye school! buh-bye loser friend!) and an open one can be scary. I know this from all the scary movies Justin watches - the music intensifies, breathing gets heavier, and as the door opens, BOOOM! The big scary monster comes to getcha.

Also, my Mum has always loved pictures of doors so this is sort of a tribute to her (hey Mumma!).

These beauties were in Florence; the first was a building right before the Ponte Alle Grazie, on our way to the greatest Gelateria in the World! The second was where we ate one night in Florence; and the third is a door we saw in Roma after visiting the Coliseum.

When in Florence we visited the Duomo. If ever I saw a beautiful door it was here! And there are many doors on this building. The Duomo is the cathedral of Florence, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio back in 1296. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. The exterior of the cathedral is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival facade by Emilio De Fabris. All in all, stunning!

Here are some doors from Cinque Terre (Chin-qweh Teh-rey). I love how rugged they look. I imagine them to be part of Mamma Mia or the like. The entire place looked like that movie which made us sing abnoxious ABBA songs the whole time we were there. You know the locals were like "Bloomin' tourists!"

Here is an amazing door located in Zurich. It is the main entrance to the Grossmunster – a large (and tall) church in the heart of Zurich. The reformist Huldrych Zwingli (born 1484) was the pastor and tried to reform the Catholic Church during his time there.

The inscriptions on each square represent (from top) the Ten Commandments, important biblical men and important biblical women (bottom row).

My FAVOURITE doors were in Venice. So old, beat up & rustic, yet you can see the beauty that once existed. The architecural design, the curves, the iron work, etc. Our gondolier told us that when it floods the water can rise upto 5 feet which is why there's such water damage to the lower parts of the doors. No one lives on the ground floor anymore because of this.

And the grand finale is quite fabulous. I'm sure it's the REAL location of Jesus' birth.

This is a real door! Ridiculous!